Market Overview

The uniform rental market as a whole showed stable growth until FY2019, due to the increasing demand related with the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games and with growing number of tourists from overseas, although the level of demand differed by uniform category.

However, the situation worsened from FY2020, as the coronavirus pandemic rapidly swept across the world. It led to shorter opening hours or temporary shut down of stores and facilities, sharp drop in the demand of inbound tourists, and increase of workers working from home. Under the circumstances, the demand for uniform rentals diminished considerably, and the market size shrank by 3.1% on year-on-year basis to 93,800 million yen for FY2020, based on the sales at uniform rental businesses. Despite lifting of the restrictions, a negative trend remained in the market for FY2021 due to the economic downturn. Consequently, the market size for FY2021 dropped by 3.7% from the previous fiscal year to 90,300 million yen.

Future Outlook

As the government lifted restrictions for the long holiday in May 2022, tourist destinations were flooded with people once again, indicating signs of economic recovery. Considering the situation, the uniform rental market expects recovery in FY2022 from the negative trend of the past few years. Nevertheless, it is most likely to take several years before the market returns to the "pre-pandemic” level, and a key for recovery is the resurgence of the tourism industry. Once the flow of people is back, it will have positive impact on all kinds of industries, including the uniform rental business.

Meanwhile, against the background of soaring crude oil prices amid a global economic shock from Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the uniform rental companies are compelled to raise rental prices. Together with the marked decline in demand led by the COVID-19 crisis, the price rise is aggravating the business condition of the uniform rental companies. Although the macroeconomic factors cannot be controlled by corporate efforts alone, managements are put to the test of their ability to rise to the occasion.

The uniform rental companies must deal with various issues of the industry, both internal and external, including the impact of the recent depreciation of the yen. With an eye on the post-Corona era, taking initiatives to develop new markets will become critical for uniform rental companies in the future.

Research Outline